When I came out of the bathroom he was gone, but this wasn’t surprising. I walked over to my window to lock it as usual and I saw a small white daisy on my window sill. I looked out of the window and smiled, these flowers grew just outside my window, he must have picked one for me when he climbed out, and left it there knowing I would see it when I locked the window. My heart skipped a beat and I smiled, a little confused. That was so unlike Liam to do something like that.

I sighed as I tucked the little flower into my pony tail and then headed to the kitchen, grabbing two juice boxes. I scribbled a note for Jake telling him that I had gone dancing, and that I would help him clear up later if he would let Kate and Sarah come over to watch a movie tonight. I knew he would go for it, this was my usual bribe for helping him clear up after his parties; they would come over to ours in the evening and he would pay for pizza and a movie. All he had to do was put up with two flirty girls hitting on him and Liam all night, as usually he came over too, if he didn’t have a date.

I skipped out of the front door into his car that was already running outside my house. “Hey, got you this,” I chirped, handing him the drink.

“Thanks. Got you this.” He smiled, handing me a slice of toast.

I laughed. “That’s a pretty good exchange,” I said, smiling at him and eating it. “Oh, I need to go to Benny’s and get doughnuts, if that’s alright.” I looked at him hopefully while we were driving down the high street. He nodded and was still beaming. “Why so happy today?” I asked, curious as to why he was smiling so much. He couldn’t have had much sleep and I knew he was still tired, I could tell by his eyes.

“I had a good night last night that’s all. I finally scored with some really hot chick that I’ve been after for a while.” He winked at me, his genuine smile turning into his stupid smirk.

My insides felt like someone had shoved a chainsaw into my stomach. He had hooked up with someone, and then came on to me in the bed? That stupid jerk! I’d kissed him, a proper kiss too, and he had used some girl for sex before that! Ugh, the stupid man-whore, I knew I shouldn’t have expected any different. I turned away so he couldn’t see how hurt I was, and glared out of my window, refusing to cry. Crying is for the weak. I hardly ever let anyone see me cry, but some people we already behind the defences I had built so I couldn’t help it. He pulled up outside Benny’s and I jumped out, wanting to be away from him. I ordered twenty assorted doughnuts, heavy on the chocolate variety because they were my favourites.

When I got back in the car, Liam smiled. “Got enough there?” he joked, looking at the two huge boxes I had in my arms.

I just nodded and turned up the radio. “I like this song,” I lied; I had no idea what it was but I just didn’t want to talk to him.

He shot me a weird glance. “You hate rave music,” he said, frowning and turning it down. Actually, he was right, I did hate that stuff, but I would rather that than talk to him, the lying slut.

We pulled up outside the studio where my crew rehearsed every Saturday, we were a street dancing crew and we were pretty good too. We had entered a dance battle last week against ten other crews in the area and had come second, winning over $1,000 in prize money. Not that we ever saw any of the money, it went straight on studio time and uniforms, music, and fliers or posters. I loved to dance, street dance was my favourite and anything that went with a hip hop beat got my vote. It had always been my dream since I was a little girl to have my own dance studio, maybe one day I’d get there, but it seemed highly unlikely.

“Hey, I’m so sorry guys, I overslept,” I said, looking at them all apologetically as I walked in.

Justin pulled me into a big hug and I tried not to flinch away from him; he was wearing his trademark piece of pink in the form of a cap today. “That’s OK. I’d oversleep too if I had that fine ass in my bed,” he teased with a grin as he nodded over my shoulder towards Liam. I rolled my eyes and put the doughnuts on the table, grabbing a chocolate one quickly before they all went. I headed over to say hi to the other guys. There were eight of us in our crew, four girls and four guys. I was happily chatting with the guys, when Justin called everyone to start. “Seeing as we are already forty-five minutes late because someone couldn’t drag her ass out of bed on time, we’d better get started,” he stated, throwing me a mock glare and making me laugh.

We set to work on a new routine; it was hard and complicated and even had some pretty scary lifts. The worst one was where I was on Ricky’s shoulders and had to flip off, turn in the air so I was facing backwards, then he would catch me as I fell down his body. Almost instantly, I had to wrap my legs around his waist before leaning all the way back putting my arms on the floor and roll my body into the floor. Luckily we had mats, because it took over an hour for me to even land it once, and let me tell you, even landing on your back or stomach on a padded mat, hurts, especially if the muscled guy who is supposed to catch you, lands on top of you.

After about the twentieth attempt, I pushed Ricky off of me, laughing. I couldn’t even get up I was so tired, sweat was running down my back. “OK, I officially give up on this for the day. My head hurts, my back hurts, my butt hurts, even my arms and legs hurt from holding on,” I whined, laying like a starfish on the mat.

“Fine, it’s nearly one anyway so we’d better clear the studio,” Justin said, holding out his hand to help me up.

I shook my head, laughing. “Can’t. I honestly can’t move,” I muttered, closing my eyes, trying to catch my breath. The next thing I know Liam was there, he grabbed hold of me and picked me up, throwing me over his shoulder as if I weighed nothing at all, and headed towards the girls shower room, laughing. “What the hell are you doing?” I cried, still annoyed at him for what he did to me last night.

“Helping you,” he stated. I could tell he was smirking by his stupid sexy voice.

“Put me down!” I ordered, trying to wriggle free, but he just gripped me tighter.

I heard the shower turn on.

No! He wouldn’t!

He did.

He stepped into the shower, putting me down under the spray, both of us getting completely soaked. I stood there, shocked. I had a change of clothes with me so it didn’t really matter, but I didn’t think that he did. Ha, stupid idiot, now he has to sit in his car in wet clothes!

He was laughing at me so I cupped my hands together and collected some water, throwing it at him; he laughed harder and gripped my waist, pressing himself to me under the shower. Water was running down his head, plastering his hair to his face, he looked sexy as hell. His clothes were slick to his body; I wanted to run my hands down him to feel the lines of his muscles. He bent his head forward and kissed me, wrapping his arms tightly around me and pushing me against the wall. He sucked lightly on my bottom lip and I gladly opened my mouth, eager to taste him again. He tasted even better today, probably because I was still half drunk when we kissed last night so I couldn’t appreciate it as much. His kissing was beautiful and was sending ripples of desire racing through my body.

Finally, he pulled away and we were both breathless. I looked into his eyes and I could see that they were dancing with excitement; I could also see something else that scared the life out of me because I knew I wasn’t ready for that. I saw lust, plain and simple. Liam wanted my body badly. I gasped and pushed him back, stepping out of the shower quickly.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have done that. Too soon, right?” he asked, coming out of the shower and taking hold of my hand.

I turned back to look at him. I couldn’t give him what he wanted; he could get that somewhere else. I mean, he was Liam James for goodness sake, he could have any girl he wanted, and he does! He already admitted he hooked up with someone last night before he kissed me. He was a player plain and simple and if I let him have my heart, he would break it, no doubt about it.

“Liam, what do you want from me?” I asked quietly, looking at my soaked sneakers.

He put his finger under my chin and lifted my face so I had to look at him. “Everything,” he said simply.

My heart stopped, and then took off in a sprint at how sweet that sounded. Wait, it’s just a line to get into your pants, Amber, calm down! “I can’t give you that, not even close. Go find the skank that you hooked up with last night, I’m sure she’s more than willing to do everything with you,” I growled nastily, doing air quotes around the word everything, before storming off to get changed. My bag was already in here, I assume one of the girls put it in after seeing Liam and I in the shower making out. Damn it, that’s embarrassing!

He grabbed my wrist and made me stop and look at him. “What skank are you talking about, Angel?” he asked, looking at me confused.

“The skank you screwed before you kissed me in bed! Damn it, Liam, you weren’t even drunk and you’ve forgotten already? Wow, this one must have really meant something to you,” I spat acidly.

He looked even more confused. “I didn’t screw anyone last night, what are you talking about?” he asked, trying to pull me to him, but I stood my ground and wrenched my wrist out of his grasp, he didn’t resist he just let me go; he knew I didn’t like being restrained.

I gave him my death glare and grabbed my towel out of my bag, toweling off my dripping hair. I pulled the little daisy out of my ponytail and threw it at his feet. “Liam, you already told me in the car earlier that you f**ked some chick you wanted, that’s why you were so happy,” I growled. Was he seriously going to lie to me about it now?

Understanding crossed his face, his body seeming to visibly relax. “Actually, I never said I f**ked anyone. What I actually said was that I finally scored with a really hot chick that I’d been after for a while,” he stated, shrugging and smiling, as if this cleared everything up.

I shook my head, still angry. The wording didn’t matter to me, it was all the same and I still felt betrayed and used. “Whatever, fucked, scored, it’s all the same thing. You’re a stupid freaking player and I can’t believe I let you kiss me. Twice!” I cried. I could feel the tears threatening to come out, so I turned my back on him.

“You’re misunderstanding what I meant!” he said desperately.

I span around to face him again. “Oh, I’m sorry! Explain please,” I said sarcastically, waving my hand in a go ahead gesture.

“I was talking about you,” he said quietly. I frowned, me? “I’ve been crazy about you since the first time I saw you, Angel, but your brother wouldn’t let me anywhere near you. All this time it’s only ever been you.” He looked at the floor like a little lost boy and I couldn’t breathe.

Did he really just say that? He liked me but Jake wouldn’t let him near me? How could that be true? Anyway, he’s a player who has sex with three or four different girls a week. How could it only ever be me? He’s never even had a girlfriend, he just has dates!

He looked at me pleadingly, he was hurting I could tell by his face, but I didn’t know what to do. If I took a chance I knew I would fall in love with him and there was a good chance he would break my heart into a million pieces, but I don’t think I could stand to lose him. He had been a constant in my life and I needed him, probably more than I needed Jake. He stepped forward and took my face in his hands and bent his face to mine and kissed me, tenderly. I knew the decision had been made; this really wasn’t something I could think through and reason out the pros and cons. When Liam kissed me, everything seemed right and whole, just like it should be. I kissed him back, wrapping my arms around him tightly, pressing into his chest.

He pulled away and grinned at me. “How about I buy lunch today, and we call it a date?” he suggested, looking at me shyly. I’d never seen Liam look shy or vulnerable in his life. The tender, pleading expression on his face was enough to set what felt like a hundred butterflies loose in my stomach.

I pretended to think about it for a few seconds and his face fell. “OK,” I finally agreed, smiling. He grinned happily before pulling me into another kiss that actually made me feel a little giddy.

He pulled out of the kiss just as I was getting slightly breathless. “I’d better go get some dry clothes from the car, give you a chance to get changed,” he said looking me over with a satisfied smile on his face. “Not that you don’t look sexy as hell in what you’re wearing.”

I looked down at myself, to see that my white t-shirt was now stuck to me and completely see through. I laughed uncomfortably and wrapped my arms around myself, blushing like crazy. He laughed too and bent to pick up the flower that I had thrown at his feet. He held it back out to me, smiling his beautiful smile.

“Thanks,” I whispered, biting my lip as my face burned with embarrassment.

“Anytime,” he said as he walked out of the door.

Chapter 6

I got changed quickly and walked out to the car. Liam was already there, leaning casually against the car, chatting happily with Justin and Spencer, another guy from my crew.

“Hey,” I chirped as I walked up to them.

Liam smiled a beautiful smile at me. “That’s my cue boys, gotta take the lady on our first real date. See you next week,” he said, waving them away with a flick of his hand.

Justin’s mouth fell open and he looked from Liam to me several times. “Date? But…. I mean…. what? I thought he was your brother’s best friend! You don’t even like him; you always say he’s a man-whore asshole. Whenever I’ve said to you about how hot he was, you just said that you wouldn’t touch his STD ass with a bargepole!” Justin said, frowning, and looking at me confused.